“That seemed to hemorrhage from every orifice, every pore.” She says. “The drugs, the by-products.” I mumbled. “They were purged from my body.” I feel good enough to stand in a short while.
“We will wait to see how you do for a few days and continue our work. Madden I, we could have lost you. We need you, that’s all.” Christine chastises. “Wait, your neck...”
“What about it?” I reply.
“That huge gash looks like it is healed.” She says amazed.
“Maybe it’s a by product of the vaccine.” I say. I work a bit more and then decide to head home. On the way I really start feeling better. Strong again. And I definitely have the urge to feed, even to attack. But time will tell if this is real. Time will tell if I did it.
I walk in the apartment, and again food is waiting on the table ready to eat. It is odd that food is always there when I get home. I guess I am just not used to a family. Matt runs up and hugs my leg. Gena kisses me and looks at my neck sheepishly.
“All better!” I exclaim.
She looks curiously uncomfortable, but smiles. It is understandable since we usually don’t heal. We sit down at the table. The man we are about to kill looks at me defiantly. Almost daring me. I take out the gag in his mouth. This is not a good night to piss me off.
“Fuck you, you miserable dead piece of shit. Your kind has killed every member of my family. I hope you choke on me.”
Then he does something stranger still. He looks at Gena and says “Do you have anything else you want to shoot into me? I feel like a God Damn pin-”. Just then Gena digs her mouth into his throat and bites deep. One hand on his head and one flat to his chest. Matt looks on worriedly. The man didn’t die right away, but could no longer speak.
“Hungry.” The words gurgled out of Gena’s smiling mouth with blood and flesh. The man struggles and tries to break free of his bonds but of course can’t. The meat market, that’s what we call the prisons where they keep them, ties them well. They also cut tendons in the arms and legs to weaken them for an easy kill.
I begin to eat, Matt does, too. I didn’t notice this the last time we ate, but thinking back, the two of them don’t really seem to eat that much at all. A lot is spread around, but I am the only one that seems to eat.
“I thought you were hungry?” I say.
“We ate before.” She answers, smiling.
Made sense I guess. I sit down in the living room and begin to feel a bit dizzy. I hope that the vaccine hasn’t rendered the Wrath cells unable to metabolize the food. That’s the last thing I remember before I wake up in bed the next morning. I wake up feeling great. And this seems to surprise Gena. She asks if I have a headache and when I say I feel fine, she looks puzzled. She brings me a piece of the man we had for dinner but I am not really hungry. I tell her I will eat it on my way out. I kiss her and leave.
I get to the lab and put the meat Gena gave me onto a table.
“What’s that?” Christine asks.
“Gena gave me it this morning for breakfast.”
Christine grabs it and shouts “This, I am testing. I don’t trust her Het, not at all!”
“Why do you suspect her, I don’t understand?” I say.
She turns away and begins testing it. I should have no problem with this. Either it will prove Chris’ suspicions or exonerate Gena. Deep down I know Chris is right, Gena was Maslow’s whore. But I love her and Matt. I love having a home.
I am thinking clearer now and realize the need to protect ourselves from any possible means of Maslow infiltrating our operation. I didn’t even need a hit of meth this morning. I have Chris and the “doctors” do some tests on me. I need to know if the vaccine is working.
“Het, you have a new and different drug in your system today. It doesn’t seem to be affecting you but it is there.” Smith says.
“And it matches whatever is in this meat she gave you.” Chris says. “See for yourself.”
I look at the test results, and she is correct.
“She tried to poison you, and probably has been the entire time you have been with her. I knew she was no good.” Chris smugly says. ‘The only thing that saved you was the vaccine.”
“That doesn’t prove anything. Maslow could’ve had that man drugged before she brought him home.” I say.
What the man says about being “shot up” echoes in my head. “...anything else you want to shoot into me” is what he said. It could have meant the Maslow and the infected in general, or it could mean Gena. There is no way Gena would do this to me. I saved her, I rescued her and Matt.
“Christine I want you to come over tonight and see for yourself, and meet Gena and the boy” I say.
“I’ll be there. But I won’t be eating anything.” She says.
“Alright, see you then... I have to get out of here.” I walk out. I head home early and Gena is waiting for me with food. How did she even know I was coming?
“Not hungry.” I mumble and go into the bedroom to lie down and think. It seems that with more intelligence comes a more to worry about. I look almost fondly back at the days I was on the road, simply killing and eating Healthies. Enjoying memories of the bliss that came with that simpler time. After a while I turn to get up and see Gena next to the bed, completely naked, with a needle. Matt is next to her.
“Vitamins.” She says smiling.
Matt holds a gun to my head.
“You love me, Het. Lie still and let me do this.” She says hypnotically.
I can’t believe this is happening. Am I dreaming? Is my family turning on me, trying to kill me? Just then Chris and Smith crash through the front door. They run toward the bedroom and Gena slams it shut. They kick through it. Matt aims his gun and Smith shoots him between the eyes. Gena runs to the window screaming for Maslow and Chris leaps and tackles her. They wrestle on the floor, biting and clawing at each other. Chris bites into Gena’s neck continually until the head is separated and she throws it on the floor. The flesh of my family covers the room.
“Further tests on the meat show the drug was only in the meat of your dinner last night for a few minutes before death. We were worried about you.” Chris tells me. “Gena did it Het, and the gun in the kid’s hand should pro...”
I jump to my feet, enraged. I tear the lifeless corpses of Gena and Matt to shreds.
“How could I be so stupid?” I scream as I tear into the flesh. Chris grabs me to calm me down. “We have to get rid of these bodies. It’s obvious Maslow was in constant contact with them. He will wonder what happened. Wait here.”
She returns later with an infected man. He is about the same size and weight as I am. She tears him apart immediately and throws him in with the remains of my family.
“Now Maslow will think all three of you were killed, at least for a while. By who, doesn’t matter. Maybe the drugs she gave you wore off and you found out and you all killed each other.” She puts a shirt over my head and we go back to the lab after dark.
“You will have to stay here with us now.” She says. “We need to try and find a way to use the fact that Maslow thinks you are dead against him.”
I feel better. Who knows if the vaccine worked but now that I am no longer going to be drugged we can really see. Tomorrow will come soon enough and a battle is near. I can smell it...
12
Viva la Revolucion!
Anyone who has ever been high on coke or meth can tell you, it is the best feeling on earth. You feel strong, happy, fearless, and elated. You feel there is nothing you can’t do. The only downside is the addiction. The constant need to take a drug, the way you feel enslaved by it. How you will do anything to get it. Now imagine if every cell in your body could be infused with the fantastic feelings all the time, but not need to use any drug to get it. That is how I have felt the last few days. I am immune to any drugs that Chris experimentally tries on me. I am thinking as well as I ever have. I am still quite undead, however, and infected. I need to feed and enjoy it again. The hate inside is b
ack and I missed it. It keeps my bones warm and my senses peaked. I feel more alive than I ever did when I was alive.
I feel extremely intelligent and strong all the time now. Like I am constantly on adrenalin but I haven’t had any in days. I have finished the vaccine and Chris, Allen, and Brown have been injected like me. We also inject Smith even though he got the Doppelganger injection, just to be sure. The Vaccine is arguably more reliable than Doppelganger alone. We don’t have a name for it, so for now it’s The Vaccine. It is the only one that matters now.
It is cool outside and it is almost nightfall. We are about to begin immunizing all of the infected on Manhattan island when I get an idea.
“The Meat Market.” I tell them. “If we could get in there, we could shoot up the Healthies, and get it in our people through food. They are all in one place and restrained, it could be done slowly and methodically in addition to immunizing infected on the street!”
“Brilliant Het.” Chris says and smiles. “I have an ID card I got from Stout that can get me in there. I go there all the time with him. I could even replace the drugs he uses to infect the food with our vaccine. I will take care of things there, you, Allen, Brown, and Smith start giving shots to people you know, the smartest of the group.”
“Lets hit it and come back at dawn to report in.” I say. I walk up to Chris, turn her around, and hold her shoulders.
“I never thanked you for watching out for me.” I said.
“I owed you for your friend back in Virginia.” Chris shot back. “I will always watch out for you.” We kissed goodbye and she was out the door.
The 3 doctors and I hit the streets. We have fashioned injectors that are in the palms of our hands. A tube runs up our sleeve and into IV bags strapped to our backs under our shirts full of The Vaccine. With The Vaccine transferring from cell to cell, and no dependence on blood flow, we don’t need to go very deep or use very much vaccine. All that we have to do is get a little in every person we pass in the street, just by putting our palm to any part of their body. They won’t even feel it. We split up and get to work.
I walk through the streets and am surprised at how bad off people have become. Many are literally falling apart. They look like walking corpses, with little or no facial expression, that move about aimlessly as if they have forgotten who they are and are trying to find out by searching the city. They walk around with a look of loss on their faces, like they have nothing left... Like life was a waste.
Then there are some that show signs of intelligence. They are very capable and often help the less able. These are the ones I vaccinate first. We will contact them soon after handing out many RED HOUSE type cards like Chris gave me, only these will have a different larger location on them. A place to congregate. We will then begin to organize. Immunizing through the food, as Chris is doing, will take longer but hit a broader spectrum of folks. We will try to hit as many as possible, taking time with the most intelligent. They will be the first wave, our Lieutenants. As they become re-aware, we will explain things so they can organize areas assigned to them. The plan is good, very good. I work through the night and head back to the lab.
I am the first one back as the sun rises. I take off my equipment and sit down on a couch to relax.
Soon Chris comes in the back. “I injected all the Healthies in the Meat Market that had been bound and gagged. I also contaminated Stout’s drug containers there with a little of our vaccine. That’s all it will take to work. How’d you do? And where are the doctors?”
“Vaccinated and worked with about 50 good Lieutenant candidates.” I say. “Ones that showed potential for the first wave.” Then in walks Smith. He looks ragged, scared, and exhausted.
“Allen and Brown are dead, gone.” He says. “This morning we saw each other and decided to head to the docks to see if we could immunize a few more before it got light. We saw a group of Healthies being unloaded off of a boat. Allen and Brown looked crazed and attacked them. I almost did too but restrained myself. Three of Maslow’s guys who were guarding the shipment turned when they saw them. They killed them both, head shots, and then threw them in the water. I hid behind a building, but after a while Maslow’s thugs saw me. Shot me quite a few times but I managed to get away.”
“Lie down over there on that table and relax. You will be fine, but you will be weak from the gunshots.” Chris told him. “Madden, we need to talk.”
I followed her to the back of the lab.
“We are down two men with one injured. What if Maslow finds the needles and equipment Allen and Brown were using. They will be out looking. What are we going to do?”
“I think we have to finish what we started.” I say confidently. “Let’s wait until tonight and head out. Maslow won’t know yet and may not even find out. His guys probably just left them by the river. We will go down and see if we can find the stuff and get rid of it. Then we will contact the ones we vaccinated and start organizing. We have to do this, we have come too far. You need to head into Stout’s office. Keep your ears open and see if you can find out anything. I will cover my head so Maslow can’t see me and head out to see what I can find out. We can meet back here before dusk and get some rest before we go out tonight.”
She kisses me and begins to change clothes for Stout’s office. Her skin is pliable and full of slices, deep holes and cuts, but her body is perfect. I can see why Healthies would be attracted to her. Some of her skin is gone, exposing rotted hard muscle, dark black pus, nerves, and bone underneath as she undresses.
“You are beautiful” I tell her. She falls into my arms and we lay on the couch.
It feels good to hold her close...
We finish, get dressed, and Chris heads to Stout’s. I follow her, but don’t let her know. It’s not that I don’t trust her, but that is a fear I want to put to rest. I want to watch out for her, but I don’t want her to act any different and arouse suspicion because she knows I am there.
I get to Stout’s building and pry open an air vent near his office. The building is very active with guards. But they are easy to slip by while they are letting Chris in. There are so many infected here, I blend in nicely. I enter the air duct system near Stout’s office and crawl to where I can see him through a vent. Chris walks in.
“There you are you rotting corpse. I smelled you before you arrived. Clothes off, stool. I will be with you in a moment.” Chris undresses and shuffles slowly, like one of the unfortunate, to the stool. She is very convincing.
“I don’t know how much of this you will understand but it’s probably more than I used to think. There is a bit of something afoot it seems.” Stout says angrily. I notice the bags of vaccine and needles that belonged to Allen and Brown on the floor near his feet.
Naked on the wooden stool, Chris stares blankly. “Love now Doctor?”
“No.” He says plainly. “There is something in those bags over there that I am just beginning to analyze but it looks as if it may be a vaccine of some sort. The first few tests indicate it may be a vaccine to counteract the drugs I make in this very lab to keep you and your kind docile and controllable. Do you know anything about it?”
“Love now Doctor?” Chris says.
Stout continues “If you did then you would be able to understand everything I am saying, because you would be smart enough to be a part of it. Who better to play a part in devising a vaccine to my drugs than my assistant? The troublemaker Madden is dead so we don’t know who is organizing this.”
He hands her a scalpel.
“Cut out your eye. You disgusting rotting filthy stench. Let’s see if you will really obey me, if you are loyal. Cut out your eye!!!” He shouts ravenously.
He sits down as if to enjoy it and four armed men walk in to watch. I feel like screaming out but they would kill us both. Besides, we both know what is going to happen. Before I can react she turns her head and begins to slowly cut out her eye. The same eye I gouged out of Michelle. I can hear the dull scalpel slice her flesh and hear her scre
ams. She finishes, her face covered in pus. Stout comes over and says “Now the other.”
She doesn’t hesitate. But as she moves the scalpel toward her eye he stops her.
“A blind assistant is useless to me, especially now that I can trust you.” She cut her eye out for our cause. Any doubt in her I had is gone. I feel horrible but not because I let it happen, but because I enjoyed it. Not as much as Stout, but I enjoyed it. It makes me feel a little revenge for Michelle’s death. The guards leave and Chris puts her eye back in the socket and bandages it in place.
“Love now! You are even more disgusting to me then before.” Stout rapes her as she lies motionless. They then get back to work. I know she will sabotage everything he does as best she can so our plan is not discovered. I leave the duct, replace the vent, and walk the street, head covered.
Het Madden, A Zombie Perspective: Book One: WRATH 2012 (Volume 1) Page 11
